'Caught between murderous humans and hungry undead, a newly resurrected thief must survive a casino-turned-gladiatorial arena and his own growing blood-lust in this dark, yet vibrant splatter-fest from Zombicide
'When former career criminal Westlake finds himself semi-zombified and shuffling towards Atlantic City, he freaks out. He’s supposed to be dead, after all. Kidnapped, he becomes part of a savage gladiator-styled show for the amusement of a heartless overlord. Lucky for him, ex-cop Estela Ramirez and her crew of mishap heroes are already on their way to save him and stop the horrors being inflicted on the humans in good ol’ AC… if they can figure out a way to fly a plane there, that is. While trying to stay “alive” and resist the urge to gnaw human flesh, Westlake realises that while the zombies are pretty bad, the worst thing in this apocalypse is definitely the people.'
The previous entry in the modern day Zombicide series introduced us to Westlake, a career criminal who finds his life thrown completely off-kilter when the world comes to an end, and the dead begin to rise. And whilst the dead rising did help him out of a tough spot to begin with, the world coming to an end did kind of send his life in a direction he wasn't expecting. Having teamed up with a group of survivors to take over a remote compound, Westlake ended up being bitten and infected; and the last we saw of him was him driving a car away to lure the undead away from his new friends.
But if you thought that that was the end for Westlake, think again! Picking up a few months after the first book in the series, All or Nothing takes us to Atlantic City, where Westlake seems to come to from a weird, confused state. Was he suffering from a head injury, was it some kind of memory loss? Worse, he comes to consciousness to discover that he's long since dead, and has turned into a zombie. What does this mean or him, will he be able to keep him mind intact, how long will his undead body last? These are all questions that will have to go on pause when Westlake finds himself getting dragged into a war in Atlantic City.
A casino has been transformed into a haven from the zombies, but the man who runs it does so with an iron fist, and dreams of conquest. Worse still, a twisted scientist is experimenting on the zombies in the basement, and those captured by the casino forces are made to fight for their lives in an arena for the amusement of the casino residents. Westlake must try to do his best to stay alive (ish), and to help the innocents caught up in these evil schemes. Meanwhile, his friends at the Villa hear the call for help from Atlantic City, and set out on a rescue mission of their own.
All or Nothing does what the first book did, it gives readers great zombie action, interesting characters, and a fun story, but it also does what every good sequel needs to do, and ups the ante and gives us some cool new things too. The first, and most obvious, is that Westlake has become a zombie. It's hard to talk about this book and not address that fact. Westlake having become the undead alters his story in about the biggest way possible, and gives him something super interesting. Whilst his role as the reluctant hero, a shady character who's trying to do the right thing but doesn't want to look too good, was fine for one story, but couldn't really last for long. This new development gives the perfect excuse for him to change, to be a bit different. He seems much more willing to throw himself into danger this time round, to put himself at risk to help others; due in large part to him technically already being dead.
It makes things more interesting because it raises questions about what makes him so special, what led him to become this unique form of zombie. Is it something unique to Westlake, or are there others out there like this? I think it's fascinating how much this opens the world up, and it means that all kind of things could be possible in future books. Could another member of the group end up becoming a zombie? Could they discover a whole community of sentient zombies? And the questions that are at the forefront of my mind, will this last? Are we going to get to a point where Westlake rots away too much and falls apart, or could he lose his mind and end up becoming a monster? These are all things that make this series much more interesting than just another zombie survival story, and give it something a little extra exciting.
But, the book isn't just about Westlake. All of the survivors at the Villa make a return, and we get to see them go on a whole new adventure with them as they head off to Atlantic City to answer a distress call. This mission involves them having to break into an airport and steal a plane; something that's incredibly balls, but isn't even the wildest thing that happens to them in this book. It's great to see this group back, as they're a bunch of characters that were an absolute joy to spend time with last time, and getting to see them go off on an adventure that's even bigger and more dangerous than the last is a lot of fun; even if there are certain parts of it where you end up reading on thinking 'why would you do that!?'.
There are also some new characters introduced in this book, both allies and villains; and it's not always clear who's going to be which. The story that Reynolds crafts in Atlantic City is a really interesting one, and it feels a lot more dynamic and engaging than the first book, which was a very simple story of trying to capture one location. Here, it's not always clear who to trust, there are double dealings, and there's a sense that we've stumbled into the middle of a story that's been going on for a while. It makes the world of Zombicide feel bigger, more lived in, and more realistic.
If you're a fan of zombie horror this book has a ton of stuff in it that you're going to like. It has masses of zombies, corrupt humans out to better themselves, brave survivors going up against overwhelming odds, and weird, twisted new types of zombies. Whether you've ever played Zombicide or not, this book is sure to keep you thrilled throughout.
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